Ray Topping, who died on Saturday 3 January after a long illness, was one of the world's leading research authorities on American recorded music covering the post-war period from 1945 through to 1975. His in-depth knowledge, which ran the gamut from Blues, Soul, Rhythm & Blues and Gospel through Country Music, Rockabilly and Hillbilly, was unrivalled.

Before falling ill, he had worked for many years as a consultant for Ace Records Ltd, one of the world's foremost reissue companies. For over 30 years he had contributed artist and label discographies to many specialist magazines and had helped compile definitive blues, rockabilly and rock'n'roll reissues for many companies before first becoming involved with Ace in 1977.

Raymond Keith John Topping was born on 10 January 1943 at Chalk Farm, London. His father, Olly, worked for Baldwin Burns, the musical instrument manufacturer. Ray left school at 15 and became a messenger for the Evening News. His employers noticed that Ray was a talented caricaturist and arranged for him to attend the Slade School of Art on day release. However, after a couple of years his passion for recorded music caused him to lose interest in art and he switched to a better-paid job as a porter at a wholesale paper merchant in the City of London.

His fascination with rock'n'roll records in the 1950s, had broadened to include blues, soul and country by the early 1960s. His unquenchable thirst for this music led him to shops such as Dobell's, Imhoff's, Asman's and Transat Imports, where he started buying rare American imports. He became interested in the American labels such as Atlantic, Chess, Duke, Peacock that released the styles of music he liked and he soon began collecting discographical information on these and other labels.

By the mid-60s he had made contact with a coterie of like-minded individuals, including Bill Millar, Dave Sax, John Broven, Dave Luxton, Cliff White and Trevor Churchill who shared information. His ever-expanding font of knowledge on blues, soul and rockabilly releases led to him contributing to various specialist publications.

In 1977 he went to work for the telephone division of the Post Office. By this time he had begun some freelance consultancy work for Ace Records and it was at his suggestion that Ace entered into licensing agreements with Glad Music in Houston in 1978 and Modern Records of Los Angeles in 1979. These deals resulted in the release of a series of historic blues and rockabilly albums compiled by Ray featuring material that had never previously been reissued. More importantly, many of these albums contained previously unheard unissued masters.

These landmark albums featuring such artists as B.B. King, Ike Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Elmore James, George Jones, Sonny Fisher, Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace, Jr Parker, Jimmy McCracklin, Eddie Noak, Little Willie Littlefield and dozens of others, both obscure and well known, played an important part in helping to establish Ace Records as a major reissue label.

Ray made several trips to America during his holidays from the Post Office over the next few years, accompanying either Ted Carroll or Roger Armstrong from Ace Records who depended on Ray's knowledge and repertoire expertise, particularly in the fields of blues and hillbilly/rockabilly. He travelled throughout Texas and to Louisiana, Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, New York and Los Angeles, helping to unearth thousands of rare or unissued masters. He encouraged Ace to sign deals with many independent US labels including Old Town, Sarg, Combo, Murco, Ram, Dig, Sandy, J&M and Bandera, as well as the Modern group of labels.

In so many ways he helped form the direction Ace was to take over the years. He was a dogged researcher, never afraid to put forward a view, at times contentious, based on what he gleaned from countless interviews with musicians over the years. His encyclopaedic knowledge of the music was invaluable in doing tape research and Ray often impressed hard bitten record label owners with his in depth knowledge of their work. Modern Records was his tour de force and without his enthusiasm Ace might never have licensed in the first place from the Biharis, finally going on to purchase the label. But his knowledge went far beyond just the West Coast Rhythm and Blues scene and encompassed, Country, Rock-A-Billy and all of the regional American Roots styles.

In 1987 Ray left the Post Office to continue his research as well as to increase his workload as a consultant for Ace Records, overseeing both vinyl and CD releases. Early in 2002, ill-health forced him to curtail his work for Ace Records, although he continued with the company in an advisory capacity for another two years or so.

He leaves behind a tremendous body of work which others have been and will continue to build on and few could wish for a better legacy.

Ray Topping is survived by his sister Pauline Fountain

Click on the links below for tributes to Ray from:

Ted Carroll
Dave Sax
Denis Lewis
John Broven
Philipe Korpar-Migrenne
Roger Armstrong
Trevor Churchill
Maggie & Alton Warwick
Johnnie.Allan
Ian Saddler
Paul Sandford
Martin Saehon
Mike Stephens